The field of the disclosure relates generally to stationary blades for steam turbines, and, more particularly, to stationary blades that provide steam ejection.
At least some known steam turbines include rotor blades that are susceptible to erosion, which reduces an operational efficiency and lifetime of the blades. In at least some known steam turbines, the erosion at least partially results from deposition of fine water droplets on a pressure side of a stationary blade upstream of the rotor blade. For example, but not by way of limitation, the fine water droplets may form a water film on the pressure side of the stationary blade. The water film may release from the trailing edge of the stationary blade and form coarse water droplets that impinge on downstream rotor blades, causing erosion. At least some such known steam turbines include water extraction from the flow path to reduce water droplet deposition on the stationary blades. However, water extraction typically increases a manufacturing cost of, and reduces an operating efficiency of, the steam turbine. Additionally or alternatively, passive approaches to reducing such erosion through changes to the last stage guide vanes, runner blades, and flow path design parameters typically leads to a performance reduction and/or higher blading costs.